STATE Vs. SWADESH ROY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) For the reasons to be expressed later on, this petition is disposed of by this order. Since various questions arise in the mind of the people of the country, the litigants, the lawyers, persons in the print, electronic and social media regarding the power of this Court to punish for contempt of Court any citizen of the country, this Division being the highest Court of the country, feels it proper to give some guidelines which will be reflected in our detailed judgment. It is to be borne in mind that the Contempt of Courts Act, 1926, is not applicable in this Division and in that regard we have expressed our opinion in Mahmudur Rahman's case. Even then, in different media, the civil society, including eminent lawyers, participated in various talk shows pointed out that the Contempt of Courts Act is an obsolete law and it should be amended, meaning thereby, that the said Act is applicable to this Division. At the outset, we would like to point out that though the Parliament is comprised of the People's representatives and it can promulgate any law, including the amendment of the Constitution, the power of such amendment is circumscribed by certain limitations. Parliament in exercise of its amending power cannot arrogate to itself the role of official liquidator of the Constitution. Our Constitution is a controlled Constitution par excellence. All institutions, including the Parliament and the Supreme Court of Bangladesh are merely creatures of the Constitution and none of them is its master. The Constitution must continue to be amendable without being alterable in its essentials. Clause (2) of Article 7 of the Constitution clearly says: